Israeli Court Orders Evacuation Of West Bank Settlement

Settlers in Migron rebuild
after some structures were destroyed by the Israeli military in
April 2010.AP

The Supreme Court of Israel ordered the government to evacuate a
Jewish settlement in the West Bank by March 31st, arguing that
there was "no more justification to
maintain the current illegal situation and the harm to
Palestinians owners' rights,"
Reuters reports.

Migron, a hilltop settlement, has a population of about 250
and was founded in 1999. According to Reuters,
the Israeli government has already admitted the settlement is
illegal, but has tried to postpone its removal due to opposition
from the politically powerful settlement movement.

The Israeli government has had much trouble dismantling illegal
settlements in the past. Settlers often refuse to leave, forcing
Israel soldiers to use force. Settlers also often take revenge by
raiding Palestinian villages in the West Bank.

The court ruling said such difficulties could have been
"avoided and minimized significantly if the
State would have employed effective enforcement methods in the
first place and prevented the construction and expansion of the
outpost," according
to Ynetnews.com.

The residents of Migron, should they actually evacuate the
settlement, will be relocated to Adam, another West Bank
settlement, in a plan that was first proposed in
2008.